Collection: Directories and Documents > Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection

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Title: The Valley Nisenan Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection Author: A.L. Kroeber Source(s): UC Publications in American Archaeology & Ethnology, Volume 24 # of Pages: 20 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

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Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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269 9, * ‘* 268 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn 22] Krocher: The Valley Nesenes [Vol. ike a live animal. The father of the informant’s “unele’’ (father’s cross-cousin ) Mike made this te’am temeya performance ; the purchase as made when Mike was a boy. This is all the informant knew of ny stabbing or shooting such as the Pomo and Patwin practice in to be led back to a single historic source; but it cannot be ac as proved for the Californian Kuksu cult as a unit. All aaa : be said as yet is that there has been a shift of emphasis, as re “a participation and esoteric quality of the ghost, Kuksu. aril spe a danee strains of the cult, between the Pomo-Yuki ‘ind h a a « : Maidu-valley Nisenan. mee General society.—Initiates in the general dancing society were pe aie ‘a ‘Pt ee Any boy or young man’ who aa as taught by the pe’ipi‘, the ‘‘dance doctors’’ or ‘‘h men,’’ ie., the older full initiates or directors. (In Maidu peh i, pepe, means clown.) The boys were kept in the dance won a i a week,’’ and were given no fat, fish, or meat. They ae ; io out for fear they would eat these things and become sick re ha a of ‘the training the boys had become light, untiring danke vn peipi learned from other old men; the informant thought th “ ; pay for the instruction. Sh ake a The informant also denied the practice of ‘‘pay dances’’ for hi people, although he was acquainted with it among Maidu ad pis ie Pi’wenan, ‘‘outside (people),’’ seems to mean uninitiated aaa trasted with the k’akin or initiated. vale a “Dances and ceremonies.—In the general dancing society the a’kit d as the Patwin describe the sa was the greatest ceremony. It is describe hesi: ‘fall spirit enactors can appear in it and-many dances come in it? The following dances are part of the akit: Deer; Raccoon, packa’tii; Grasshopper, e’ni’; waka’i worm ; Goose; la’lié trapeze performance. The akit lasts from two or four days to a week. The other dances and ceremonies can be briefly listed. Unless _ otherwise stated, they are performed in. the k’um, by men only, and “were made at Kadema and Pujune. The known oceurrence, ancient or recent, of dances of the same name elsewhere is indicated by M for Maidu, P for Patwin, Po for Pomo; H for hill Nisenan, Mw for _Miwok. \a'min (H.-M, generic word for dancing). ' ga/lalu, similar to k’a’min (M). . Jo*le,26 women holding a long feather rope,.a.m end of the line (M, P, Po, H, Mw, Salinan). lu/hui,26 men and women; hold small ornaments of yellowhammer feathers (H; M, luyi). Speaks ‘ yo/muse, women only; outdoors (H). The word also means shaman. ha‘lule’, men and women; the informant never saw. this. . : ke’nu (M, P). ah o’lo"k, condor. A separate eeremony; dangerous on account of: its food taboos. The dancer wears & condor skin; his-head is. reddened. Sold by Pujune to Ol'ac (M, P, Mw). i ya'tce’, another Pujune dance sold to Ol‘ac. : : ki/l'ak, high eagle feathers on head (P, Po, H, Mw). . tu’lat, yellowhammer quill band worn fore-and-aft;on head (H). ma‘‘mac, similar to last; carried staff; did not <<eome to Kadema’’ (H). : hi/w'e, costume of fine owl feathers on body; staff carried by each dancer. From ‘‘Sonoma county’? (Pomo) ;.the Mokosumni also had this. (Po, H, Mw, Costano, Salinan.) The last four dances seem associated inthe informant’s mind. ya’pi, a dance (?). ~-waliko’ and oke’a, old dances of Pujune and Kadema, never seen by informant; men and women danced in these, he was told. Deer (M, P), Raccoon, Goose(?) (M), Grasshopper (M, Mw), Wakai worm, dances in the akit. : ’murtle (M), Skunk (M), Tsamyempi (M), Grizzly Bear (M, P), Coyote (dape) (M, P), not made, though the Patwin were known to make the last two. Waima (M) and Waisaltu (P), not known. obtained from the present informant by an with a whistle at each Temeya or Kuksu society—The te’me'ya ceremony or society had — the ku’ksui performers. It was held in summer in the das rf o as a great show, men and women looking on. There Wor two aise flanked by two wu’lu, four in all. The kuksui wore a very large h A : dress, a black-feathered net covering his whole person na’ is whistle of sand-hill crane bone; he ought to be tall to 16H varied ie . The temeya was made at Pujune, Kadema, Hok, ‘‘everywhere,’’ ei among the Patwin. The ‘‘temeya people’’ or members ae bot! mel and women ; and only they had the nose septum bored. In it the wate a very white ornament called cii’mii, of bone, 3 or 4 inches lon Me informant in his childhood had seen a women wear this whil i : : in the temeya. Beate A special act was the ‘‘wood-temeya,’’ te’a’m te’me’ya, which performed by a shaman (yomuse, ‘‘medicine doctor’’) Thi =a was bought from the Mokosumni by Kadema. The dance hots i sande dark; then something unseen called o’l'ec, something dan ss ae heard to fly and fall repeatedly. Then an object ae oe ag oe se ee bones, perhaps other things also, and covered aa gal wn of the sand-hill erane, was exhibited. é it with a spear: then this object cried Anite een ae se 26 Descriptions of the lole and luhui, _ Gayton, are given in Gifford, 235.